


Nor Will The Moon Gleam

by complicatedly



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Ocean, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:15:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27177079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/complicatedly/pseuds/complicatedly
Summary: One summer night, Abigail can't sleep.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12
Collections: Trick or Treat Exchange 2020





	Nor Will The Moon Gleam

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sunspot (unavoidedcrisis)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/unavoidedcrisis/gifts).



It’s too hot to sleep. 

Abigail tries, but her efforts feel doomed to failure. She tosses and turns, her covers long kicked aside, sweat slicking uncomfortably in the hollow of her back, for what feels like an endless stream of time. If she sleeps at all, it’s in brief snatches, indistinguishable from waking life. 

It’s both frustrating and tiring. Eventually, she gives up, getting up, but the air is equally suffocating whether she’s laying down or standing. Even the floorboards feel too warm for comfort. 

Fine, then. She doesn’t bother changing—just shoves her feet into the nearest pair of shoes and goes. 

Outside the house is a little better. The air is still warm against her skin, but not as stifling as it had been in her room. Still, something pushes her forwards: down the cobbled path, past the Saloon, whose windows have already gone dark for the night, beyond the graveyard where she’s spent so many of her sleepless nights, and over the creaking bridge that leads down to the beach. 

Abigail’s never been particularly fond of the beach. There’s no romanticism to it, no mystery. Not like the forest or the mines. Splayed wide-open beneath the scorching gaze of the sun, the beach has no secrets left to hide—and besides, her skin’s always been quick to burn. 

Still, on a night like this, the idea of cool ocean air appeals. As she nears, the scent of the air shifts from the faint hints of brine that always lingered in the breeze no matter where in town you went, into a deep, salty-tang. A faint breeze pulses from the tides, drying the sweat on her back. She kicks off her boots the moment she hits sand, walking barefoot across the shifting grains. 

And then, she sees it. 

Far beyond the reach of the dock, round, shimmering, white lights bounce against the waves. 

As soon as she sees them, Abigail can’t look away. Distant and mesmerizing, the lights move with the bounce and swell of the water, but never touch the water’s surface—like will-o-wisps floating through a marsh. There’s something almost iridescent about the way they glimmer beneath the dark and moonless sky. 

They can’t be the moonlight jellies. Those only swim beneath the water, not above, and, anyway, it’s not far enough into the summer for that anyway. 

She draws closer, sea-soaked surf crunching beneath her feet. But before she can step foot into the tide, some instinct has her swerving to the side and onto the dock instead, padding across the worn, weather-beaten wood. 

When she comes to a stop at the end of the dock, the lights look no closer than they did before.

Like will-o-wisps, she thinks again, and then: like a siren’s song, given form. 

The salty taste of the sea breeze burns down her throat. She feels no fear: only fascination. Wrapping her arms around herself, Abigail stands there a little longer, silently watching the strange lights dance over the water.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this bit of in-game dialogue: _“I went to the beach last night, after dark... Sometimes you can see strange lights bobbing over the sea. Or maybe that was just a dream I had... It doesn't feel real anymore.”_


End file.
